Only good in spots

The comeback of the family film means that more resources than ever - and better actors - are being lavished on movies that the whole family will wish to see. And that's great.

But it's no use having a big budget for spectacular costumes, or splendid screen actors in the form of Glenn Close and Gerard Depardieu, if the story and direction are not up to scratch.

Small children and undemanding adults will just about get their money's worth at 102 Dalmatians.

They'll go 'ahhhh' at the cute doggies, laugh at the slapstick, even though much of it is mistimed, and join in the cruel laughter as characters have their hands repeatedly mangled, bottoms bitten or hairdos deluged in multi-coloured gunk.

The rest of us will think back nostalgically to Dodie Smith's original novel, the cartoon or even the 1996 live-action movie and wonder where the humour and humanity went.

It starts promisingly as Cruella De Vil (Glenn Close) is cured of her desire for fur by aversion therapy and returned to the community.

Here she is monitored by a dog-loving parole officer (Alice Evans) and pours her millions into a shelter for rescued dogs (run by Ioan Gruffudd).

Before long, however, Cruella is reverting to type and screaming for a dalmatian coat complete with hood (hence the need for one more dead dog than before) from French designer Jean Pierre LePelt (Gerard Depardieu).

Adults should be aware that the increasingly bulky Depardieu is first seen in leopardskin shorts, not a sight for those of a nervous disposition.

This is director Kevin Lima's first live-action feature - his other work was the animated Tarzan -and he bludgeons the audience, rather than charms it.

The pace and noise are relentless, and he indulges Close and Depardieu to the point where their histrionics become more tiresome than funny.

As if to compensate, Evans and Gruffudd are bland to the point of invisibility, and are an inadvertent reminder of the skilful job that Jeff Daniels and Joely Richardson did as the romantic leads in the 1996 predecessor.

The aspect of Disney that critics most often overlook is the quality and economy of their story-telling, up to the early Sixties, and then again from The Little Mermaid onwards.

Since the departure of Jeffrey Katzenberg to set up Dream-works, their quality control has been on the decline.

Dinosaur, Inspector Gadget and now this picture have gone into production with careless, poorly characterised screenplays that were over-mechanical and clearly in need of further drafts.

There are good ideas in 102 Dalmatians - Cruella as a reformed character, a parrot that thinks it's a Rottweiler, a dalmatian puppy that's an outcast because it has no spots - but the potential is not explored to the full, and the dialogue just isn't witty enough.

When scripts deteriorate, revenues are bound to follow; and that is the fundamental reason why 102 Dalmatians is about to be destroyed at the Christmas box office by The Grinch.